The South Korean context

[Halifax]
:
Dalhousie University

Date

2014

Pages

160

Subject Country

South Korea(Asia and Pacific)

Language

English

File Type

Link

Subject

Economy < Economic SystemSocial Development < Health

Holding

Dalhousie University

License

Abstract

This dissertation studies the macroeconomic effects of providing public universal health insurance in South Korea. Since its inception in 1989, the South Korean government has increased the public health insurance benefit rate by reducing the co-pay rates and out-of-pocket medical expenditures. Such a policy change has improved the access to health care for the elderly and poor who would have otherwise opted out of medical consumption. I explore this link between medical consumption and health outcomes from the macroeconomic standpoint. This dissertation is organized in four parts. First, I provide a background on the development of public health insurance, the current population ageing, and the recent decline in aggregate saving in South Korea. Second, I provide an empirical investigation on the link between medical consumption and health outcome using the Korean Welfare Panel Study. (The rest omitted)